Tracking Hitchcock's footsteps in city

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, January 30, 2003

"I can't go to the bar at the Top of the Mark," says James Stewart's Scottie in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo," "but there are plenty of street-level bars in this town."

No telling whether Hitch ever downed a martini at the Owl Tree, but San Francisco's watering holes were just one of the many attractions that drew him here. Not only did Hitchcock make Northern California a central character in "Vertigo" and "The Birds," but he found inspiration in local settings for several other classics as well -- "Rebecca," "Suspicion," even "Psycho."

When he first came to San Francisco, Hitchcock reportedly said it was a good place for a murder mystery. Then he set about proving it.

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Local authors Jeff Kraft and Aaron Leventhal have documented Hitch's long- standing infatuation with San Francisco in their book "Footsteps in the Fog." They'll present their slide show tonight in the Main Library's cozy Koret Auditorium.

"Footsteps in the Fog: Alfred Hitchcock's San Francisco," 6 tonight at Koret Auditorium, San Francisco Main Library, 100 Larkin, San Francisco. Free. (415) 557-4400 or sfpl.lib.ca.us.

"Reggae got soul," sang Toots and the Maytals. What it don't got is a whole lot of mainstream air time.

This weekend, to kick off Black History Month, MTV2 features a "Reggae Weekend." Sure, it's MTV's sister station -- the Music Television ghetto, as it were -- but it's something.

There's the obligatory Bob Marley tribute, of course. What's more interesting are the efforts the network is making to spell out the ways reggae has influenced contemporary pop, whether the credit has been paid in full. Spotlights include video blocks featuring reggae's role in rock (No Doubt, the Police) and its growing impression on recent hip-hop (Busta Rhymes, the Fugees).

There's even a showcase of dance-hall videos by Sean Paul, Beenie Man and other Jamaican superstars, who don't get a load of face time in the states. That's digging a little deeper in the crates.

"Reggae Weekend" on MTV2. Check listings.

"Someday I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me," sang the late Judy Garland, countless times.

San Francisco's own Connie Champagne is wishing upon Judy's star with her new show, "Imagine Judy Garland." Not quite an impersonation, it's more an interpretation: Instead of Judy's greatest hits, Champagne presents a "what- if?" scenario featuring songs by writers such as Joni Mitchell and Freddie Mercury (what, "Under Pressure"?).

The show also features a version of the aptly titled "There Is No Music," the song Ira Gershwin co-wrote for Garland opposite Fred Astaire for 1949's "The Barkleys of Broadway" -- before she was fired from the picture.

Champagne, local queen of the late '90s swing revival (the New Morty Show), is fresh off an acclaimed performance in "Judy's Scary Little Christmas" in Los Angeles. Her immersion in the life and art of Judy Garland is a little on the scary side -- in a good way, of course.

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